Seely
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Ethereal dreampop
Status:
Final release, Winter Birds (2000)
See also:
Wikipedia's entry on Seely
Comparisons:
Early Stereolab, a more pop Cocteau Twins
Covers/own material:
Own
General comments:
Male and female vocals. Seely sounds a lot like early Stereolab, and once Stereolab abandoned that style (much to my dismay) the territory was Seely's alone. Not that they're doing the 60s stuff that Stereolab did, it's more in the vocal harmonies and overall complexly simple soundscapes they created. Lovely music, wonderful female vocals. Ethereal, yet more song-oriented than the Cocteau Twins stream of things. Quintessential dreampop. They deserve to be better known, on ecto and elsewhere. Highly recommended, especially their later albums. (Neile)
Recommended first album:
Winter Birds
Recordings:
- parentha see (1996)
- Julie Only (1996)
- Seconds (1997)
- Winter Birds (2000)
parentha see
Release info:
1996—Third Eye—TE-2007
Availability:
Out of print
Ecto priority:
Recommended for Seely fans
Group members:
Steven Satterfield—guitar, vocals
Joy Waters—bass, vocals
Lori Scacco—guitar
Eric Taylor—percussion
Guest artists:
Ian Feagin—viola
Toby Feagin—cello
Andrew D. Barker—xyllophone
Charles Waters—arp
Produced by:
Seely
Comments:
Dreamy. Loose and flowing. Too much so for me—this one never feels like it comes into focus. I would recommend starting with one of their other albums. (Neile)
Julie Only
Release info:
1996—Too Pure—9 43100-2
Availability:
Wide on release
Ecto priority:
Recommended for fans of dreampop
Group members:
Steven Satterfield—guitar, vocals
Joy Waters—bass, vocals
Lori Scacco—guitar
Eric Taylor—drums
Produced by:
Seely & John McEntire
Comments:
Their first "mainstream" release, re-recordings of some of the songs from parentha see, plus some additional tunes. (Neile)
Seconds
Release info:
1997—Too Pure (U.K.)—PURE69CD
Availability:
Wide on release
Ecto priority:
Recommended for fans of dreampop
Group members:
Steven Satterfield, Lori Scacco, Eric Taylor, Joy Waters
Guest artists:
Scott Herren
Produced by:
Scott Herren and Steve Askew
Comments:
Very dreamy ethereal dreampop. My strong favourite here is the song that was the single, "Soft city"—a perfect Stereolab-like energetic dream. (Neile)it is amazing...maybe better than their first. Joy sounds so much better, having developed a really nice, sultry vocal style...and there are no bad trax! Just wonderful stuff. (Violaine@juno.com)
Winter Birds
Release info:
2000—Koch Records—KOC-CD-8076
Availability:
Wide on release
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Steven Satterfield, Lori Scacco, Eric Taylor, Joy Waters
Produced by:
Seely, Steve, and Scott
Comments:
This is really lovely. All the things I liked about early Stereolab and none of the things that I've grown less interested in over time. Really lovely vocals, good songwriting—sort of updated '60s pop ethereal. I think this one is even better than their previous discs. "Planes circle do" and "sandy" seem the epitome of their music, and I particularly love these two songs. (Neile)
